Comments By Jared McClure

Broad question. How does being an owner operator work?

By you spending more money than you make and going bankrupt.

Its really not all that difficult. With my class (I went to their phoenix academy) they taught a bit of shifting while driving around the academy while switching from parallel parking to offshift parking... then during the road training portion of the program they spent an entire day out on a little used highway teaching you how to shift up and down.

They did not have a simulator.

I like to take the opposite point of view.. you have had all this bad luck its bound to turn around soon. Go buy yourself a lottery ticket!

Love the profile pic.. ASU!!!!!

Unfortunately, the lottery ticket idea didn't work out... I had actually bought a ticket at the Petro truck stop in Ontario earlier that same day.

Now I'm just stuck in a motel waiting around for the Swift head honchos to get back from the weekend (driver manager can't seem to get a hold of anyone) to decide what to do next with the situation. Truck is just sitting in a drop yard at the moment, a small yard that doesn't even have a proper shop much less a body repair shop.

GO DEVILS!

Well, I had a pretty interesting.. And rather insane night last night.

I was getting ready to go pick up a load from the Walmart Distribution center in Irwindale, California. Everything was going fine and I was happy I'd finally be getting back to Phoenix (where I live). On the I-210 W I suddenly felt an impact on my truck, obviously someone had hit it. I pulled over to the side of the road, started to get out to check on the other driver (the one that stayed) when I notice that they had hit my right on the fuel tank.

So I had diesel spilling out everywhere and needed to contain the leak immediately, so I pulled the mattress out from inside of the truck and used it to absorb much of the diesel. Fire department showed up fairly quick and started shoveling dirt around the area to contain the spill. They had to call a Haz Mat team to come and clean it all up.

Nobody was hurt and luckily for me and the other driver a witness to what happened stopped and told me that an SUV apparently pushed their sedan right into me. After that, the SUV took off as fast as they could go. The other driver's car was completely totaled but at least he and his wife were able to walk away from it without major injuries.

After about 4 hours they finally got everything cleaned up and a tow truck showed up to haul me back to the yard since I couldn't safely drive anymore with a ruptured fuel tank.

About 2 miles from the yard, as the tow truck driver is about to get on the off ramp for his exit... wham!

Another vehicle hits the truck again. In the same exact spot. The truck, which had minimal damage from the first impact, was much more damaged by this second collision. Diesel spilled out onto the highway, again, but there wasn't much left in the tank and they didn't even need to call a haz mat team again.

That other vehicle was again completely totaled and must have hit us going about 90 mph. And here is the real doozy: They were drunk drivers and the second they could, they got out of the vehicle and ran off on foot. Don't think the police ever even found them. Another witness stopped and gave a report to the police though, luckily for me.

I have to wonder what the odds are of being involved in two hit and run incidents within hours of each other. The tow truck was able to finish towing me to the yard and now I'm sitting in a motel writing this after getting some sleep.

At least nobody was hurt in either of the wrecks, although that second drunk driver was very lucky not to have been killed in the incident, their car was so smashed up.

I did not get a citation for either incident, luckily, though two not at fault accidents on my record in a single night...

Eckoh, I'm getting there. Last week me DM confirmed my home call is for March 10 (Fri). I put on an empty call from central NC, looking for a trip home to Memphis. I got a load sent to me that went from SC (fair 'nuff) to Valdosta, GA (no way). Delivered on March 11. Yeah, I macro 9 turned it down.

My next load was a SC pick up March 11, delivered in Memphis Match 12, MONDAY. Where'd my weekend trip home go?

rant on

Swift calls home stops "Your Most Important Stop". This is the second home stop they've messed up in a row. Important to me, yes. But shipments are more important to them.

rant off. Thank you.

Its possible they didn't have a load to get you there on time and did the best they could with what they had..

Sleeping on the top bunk while the truck is moving is a no no. It's dangerous for starts. I have a Sleep Dogg mattress. Best money I ever spent. 10 inches of memory foam. It's a bit more expensive than most mattresses but worth every penny.

I've been finding sleeping on that rock they call a mattress to be a real challenge so far... Really considering buying one of the sleep dogg mattresses, but 580 bucks seems very expensive..

You're better off just finding a Denny's or McDonalds that has free wifi, as their speeds tend to be better than the truck stop wifi. And from what I've noticed, even the Denny's and McDonalds in the truck stops typically offer free wifi.

You should have turned down the load, using a "macro 9", and just let them know your new pta and the reason you're turning down the load. Its possible that whichever of the Swift planners put you on it didn't even realize you were wanting to take home time, but as Swift is not forced dispatch, there is no reason for you not to have turned the load down to take your home time.

Nice... I should be finished up training just a couple weeks before that pay increase hits.

I wonder if there's more to this than the driver is telling anyone? Like why did you so desperately need to make a U-turn right here and now? What was he really up to? He's either handling ordinary circumstances like a lunatic or dealing with extraordinary circumstances and keeping it to himself. Either way he needs a timeout far away from trucking, and possibly society for a while. Maybe go on vacation. Hit a beach somewhere and gather his thoughts a little. Geez!

Maybe he was actually forced off the road, or something, rather than attempting to make a U-turn there.